Page 82 of Fly with Me

“Stella has told me a lot about how much a pilot has to know. All the hours she puts in in the air. It seems like so much.”

Jack’s gaze hovered over Stella for a moment. “How long have you been a pilot with the airline, Miss Sanch—uh…”

“Soriano, sir. I’ve been flying for fifteen years. I was hired fresh out of flight school.”

“Lifetimers. We love those here. These knuckleheads—” He gestured to the three males at the table. “They’ve all been here over forty years.”

“Wow. How long do you have to be a pilot before you can become a captain?” Olive asked in an innocently curious voice.

“No one becomes a captain in my airline unless they have ten years of experience and three thousand flight hours.”

“Oh, okay. Is it hard to get that many hours, Stella?”

Stella’s cheeks had paled. “I think I achieved that during my first six years with the airline. It does require a lot of hard work.”

“Did you now?” Jack’s attention, for the first time, had turned to Stella completely. “That’s quite a feat, Miss Soriano.”

“Thank you,” Stella said in a slightly strangled voice.

“Are there a lot of female captains?” Olive looked around as if to search, glancing at the group of males seated opposite them.

“We have a very high percentage of female employees at Allied. Many women in our leadership structure.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Olive held his stare.

He folded his hands in front of him. “But, as far as female captains go, I suppose we have two. Oh, and, er—Esther Caldwell should be counted in that number. I guess.”

Olive’s jaw tightened.

Stella sat forward. “Esther’s been one of my best mentors. She’s an amazing pilot and an amazingly strong woman.”

“Yes. I’ve always admired her. And her service during the war speaks for itself as well, of course.”

Stella nodded.

“Well, based on your flight hours and experience, I’m amazed you haven’t made captain yet, Miss Soriano. Is that something you want?”

“Very much so, sir. It’s all I’ve wanted my entire life. I completed the command course a few years ago.”

“I’ll have to make a note with my assistant for you to meet with me sometime. She told me about the TODAY show interview and the press it generated. We have a couple folks retiring this year. Always good to promote good representatives of the company.” His eyes fell on Stella’s full plate of food. “Do you not like the food?”

Stella’s eyes widened. “I—I—uh—”

Olive lifted her chin, drawing courage from a place she had no idea existed inside her. “Stella has a medical dietary restriction.”

Jack gave the plate a serious look. “Did they not accommodate you?”

“They—it’s fine.”

“My granddaughter has an anaphylactic peanut allergy. They should know how to do this in this day and age. But I can see you’re trying to be diplomatic about it. You will get appropriate food in the future.” He spoke like a man well accustomed to absolute authority.

“Thank you, sir.” She turned to Olive, eyes bright in a quiet expression of excitement.

Chapter 28

“You didn’t have to walk me to the door.” Olive fingered the stitching on Stella’s uniform lapel.

“It’s the least I could do after watching you go to bat for me with the CEO. He tends to make people freeze up.”